26 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 184 
Bishop Tamar6n visited Sia in 1760, where he gave two sermons 
and made 494 confirmations (Adams, 1954, p. 76). A Spanish letter 
of 1775 reports that “thieves from the Navaho Apaches have come, 
on six occasions to steal cattle and horses from the pueblos of Xemes, 
Sia, San Yldefonso . . .”” (Thomas, 1940, p. 1838). 
Father Dominguez made a tour of inspection of the missions of 
New Mexico in 1776, and he describes the church and convent of Sia 
in some detail. He also comments briefly upon lands and _horti- 
culture. Of the village he says: 
Therefore there is no more to be said with regard to this pueblo of Zia than 
that its houses are of stone like the hill on which it stands. They are arranged 
and built in nine small tenements, or blocks, of dwellings. One of them is oppo- 
site the church and the rest are to the south in the form of two small plazas open 
at their four corners, and they are to the east and west of each other [—very much 
as it was in 1957]. [Dominguez, 1956, p. 175.] 
An epidemic of smallpox ravaged the pueblo country in 1780-81, 
and so reduced the population of nearby Santa Ana that this pueblo 
became a visita of Sia in 1782 (Bancroft, 1889, pp. 274, 281). 
Father Morfi describes the mission and pueblo of Sia in 1782, but 
apart from geographic and topographic notes, which would be appli- 
cable today, he says nothing of significance (Thomas, 1932, pp. 
99-100). 
Spanish accounts of the early decades of the 19th century mention 
Sia in a survey of anumber of pueblos. ‘The pueblos mentioned .. . 
have well-protected walls and are two or more stories high. ‘The 
lower floors . . . are completely enclosed” ; ladders “lead to the rooms 
above” (Carroll and Haggard, 1942, p. 29). It is not said that Sia, 
specifically, was surrounded by a high wall, and we may doubt that it 
was; certainly we have no indication of it either in visible remains or in 
recollections of informants. Furthermore, the pueblo is located upon 
a steep hill that would have provided considerable protection. Fa- 
ther Dominguez does not mention a wall surrounding Sia in 1776, 
whereas he does state that “‘the whole pueblo [of Santo Domingo] is 
surrounded by a rather high adobe wall with two gates; this is for 
resistance against the enemy [Indians]... (Dominguez, 1956, 
p.. 137). 
The early 19th-century chronicles quoted by Carroll and Haggard 
go on to say that 
in spite of the dominion held over them by religion [i.e., Catholicism], all of these 
pueblos persist in keeping some of the dogmas which have been transmitted to 
them traditionally, and which they scrupulously teach their descendants. From 
this arises the worship they render the sun, the moon, and other celestial bodies, 
the reverence they have for fire, etc. . . . All of the pueblos have their estufas 
[kivas] .... The doors of the estufas are always closed to us, the Spaniards, 
as they call us... . [The salvation of the souls of most of the Indians was] 
woefully neglected. [Carroll and Haggard, 1942, pp. 27—29.] 
